What happened on the Bulgarian real estate market in 2011

The real estate market in Bulgaria in 2011 remained relatively stable, the managers of the largest real estate agencies in the country say. Property prices fell. The most sought after homes in Sofia were for about 50,000 euro, the experts add. At the same time the interest in offices and industrial areas decreased and rental levels in this sector dropped drastically. The most dynamic segment on the property market in 2011 was the agricultural land sector. Also in 2011 quite a few people living in the cities bought rural houses. The most active buyers this year were the young families, all large real estate agencies agree.

The agricultural land sector was the most dynamic
Polina Stoykova, Chief Operations Manager of BULGARIAN PROPERTIES

This year the focus was on buying cheaper properties, which people feel more certain they can afford. This means the following: apartments in Sofia for up to 50,000 euro, holiday apartments at the seaside and in Bansko between 20,000 and 40,000 euro, rural houses – between 15,000 and 20,000 euro as these are houses that are in very good condition and are ready to live in.

Apartments in Sofia take up the biggest share of home sales in 2011, as in the second part of the year there was more activity in the other regional cities around the country as well. The other main segment that buyers were active in is that of holiday apartments along Bulgaria’s southern Black Sea coast. When talking about non-residential properties it is the agricultural land sector that was the most dynamic in 2011.

Apartments in Sofia and in the other large cities were bought mainly by Bulgarian buyers who plan to live there. They are mainly young families buying their first home and getting on the property ladder or families who want to move to a bigger or more luxurious home. As for holiday properties – the main buyers are the Russians and they buy with the intention of spending their holidays there and part of them want to rent their property to tourists.

The interest in office areas has decreased
Onik Latifyan

In general, in 2011 the most sought after properties were one-bedroom and two-bedroom flats and not so much commercial properties. There is also lower demand but higher supply of office areas and plots of land. There was also more demand of more expensive and luxury houses and the interest in gated residential developments also increased. We could divide the clients into two types: young people or families looking for their first home and people buying for investment purposes or to rent out.

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